



























6 yvv. 

; ’ - - -v ■ ‘ $ 

- • ’ « V\r 

S$ . i‘ ji ■ 

m-: 


■ f 






















>•*£»'. •/ V ■ . 




. : : '-r • - 



rii , 












p: VC-.-'r. " ■{: ■# 






W ’ '' ' ■ 




y<> /. ■ 












' • - 




k-. 





tf; 






























* 






















i 







V ■■ -7 . 












. . • — r - • , 



v .> * 














OUT OF THE CURRENT 

















Out of the Current 

TOZzMS 

by J** 

WILLIAM F. KIRK 



1 9 2 3 

THE STRATFORD CO., Publishers 

Boston, Massachusetts 







cr 0 A 

\ „ , s* A- 

•<T" | \»^ ^ 

. A*-' ' w ' ^ <fc v 

\<\^ D 


Copyright, 1923 

The STRATFORD CO., Publishers 
Boston, Mass. 



The Alpine Press, Boston, Mass., U. S. A. 


3 UN 28 ' 23 , 


C1A711021 

c i f if 

V vk / * 


To 

William Randolph Hearst 


In whose various publications these poems originally 
appeared, this volume is gratefully dedicated. 






* 




Contents 


Christmas in Chippewa Falls 
The Visitor . 

The Lights of Broadway 
To One at Worship 
“Getting By” 

Sonnet on Beauty . 

Talking Shop 
The Milestones 
Memories 

The Poet’s Gold . 

Hard Lines , 

The Iceman . 

Cinders 

Song o’ the City . 

Captain Scott 

Elks’ Toast (Eleven O’clock) 
The Voyagers (The Titanic) 
The Pumpernickel Princes 
The Harbor of Dreams . 

A Sunset Song 

To Ella Wheeler Wilcox 

Kitchener 


PAGE 

i 

3 

5 

7 

8 

io 

n 

14 

16 

18 

19 
21 
23 
25 

27 

28 

30 

31 

33 

35 

36 
- 38 









CONTENTS 


The Heart of Ireland . 




PAGE 

. 39 

The Wedding Ring 





4i 

Ballade of Easter . 





42 

The One Little Woman 





44 

The Spread of the Antlers 





46 

The New Stenographer . 





48 

Columbia’s Prayer 





50 

Unrest ..... 





52 

The Marines on the Marne . 





55 

Four Walls .... 





57 

Soldier Afar .... 





58 

Music ..... 





60 

The Convict .... 





61 

In the Forest 





62 

Work and Wait . 





63 

Ballade of Summer 





65 

Ballade of Irvine Park . 





67 

Ballade of Baseball 





69 

To the Milwaukee Press Club 





7i 

A Ballade of New Books 





75 

The Goldfish 





77 

Concerning Knighthood 





79 

You. 





81 

The English Language . 





83 

Sunset in Manhattan 





85 




















OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Christmas in Chippewa Falls 

Where the dreams of old days come like reindeer 
And sparkle like frost in the sun, 

Where the hills that I knew stand in ermine and blue 
’Neath a sky that is turquoise and dun, 

Where the glad ghost of Childhood is calling 
From the depths of dear Memory’s halls, 

I pause by the way with a heart bright as May 
For it’s Christmas in Chippewa Falls. 

II. 

Far, far from the Fortress of Folly, 

The City, with all of its show, 

Back out of Time’s maze come the friends of old days 
With their eyes and their spirits aglow. 

Disillusion must come to the dreamer 
But the sweet dreams of old he recalls, 

And the treasure is vast on the Tree of the Past 
When it’s Christmas in Chippewa Falls! 


[ 1 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


III. 

Old loves! Old acquaintance! Old rapture! 

Come, dance ’round the Tree for an hour! 

The gifts of today I would fain put away 
For the honey from Yesterday’s Flower! 

Yes, the glad ghost of Childhood is calling 
From the depths of dear Memory’s halls 
And the presents of yore are my presents once more 
For it’s Christmas in Chippewa Falls! 


[ 2 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The Visitor 

The rich man sat in his club one night; 

His hands were mottled, but deft. 

A glass of brandy was in his right 
And a good cigar in his left. 

His cheeks were heavy and violet-veined, 

His eyes were two slits of gray. 

Pendulous lipped, he puffed and sipped 
And idled the hours away. 

The rich man dozed. Then he seem’d to wake — 
He stirred in his easy chair. 

His fat old heart felt a sudden ache 
From a blow that had landed there. 

He gazed at a youth with a fresh, strong face. 

“What are YOU doing here?” cried he. 

Said the lad with a grin “I just dropped in — 

I’m the boy that you used to be! 

“Yes, I am the boy that you used to be 

When you captained them all at school, 

The boy that protected the stupid lad 
Who sat on the dunce’s stool; 

[ 3 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The boy that forced the bully to whine 
While the rest looked on to laugh — 

The boy that smashed through the football line 
And scattered them all like chaff! 

“You were full of love for the battle then, 

You were sober and strong and lean. 

You loved your God and your fellow men, 

Your hands and your heart were clean. 

I hated to call on you here tonight — 

It’s a sorrowful visit for me, 

But I wanted to give you one more sight 
Of the boy that you used to be!” 

* * 

The rich man rose from his easy chair; 

For a moment his gaze went far, 

Then he gulped his drink with a weary air 
And lighted a fresh cigar. 

“The boy that I used to be,” he mused 
As he called for his coat and hat. 

“How real it seemed! But I must have dreamed! 
There was never a boy like that!” 


[ 4 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The Lights of Broadway 

The Lights of Broadway! In their gleam 
A million ghosts are moths tonight 

And many a dead and buried dream 
Comes forth to walk in fluttering white. 

Adown that long and teeming lane 

They drift like snowflakes, cold and still. 

From night to morn they seek to warn 
The youth that Broadway plans to kill. 

The Lights of Broadway! Lane of sneers, 

It mocks the pleasure-loving tide — 

This Calvary where through the years 
Sincerity is crucified! 

If Conscience walks this thoroughfare 
She treads on many a poisoned thorn. 

If honest hearts are beating there * 

Their honesty is laughed to scorn! 

The Lights of Broadway! ’Tis a fool 
Who makes a sermon of a song 

For few to read and none to heed 
In all the merry-making throng! 


[5] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The years have flowed and still shall flow 
With memories of their wasted wine. 
New faces come, old faces go — 

And still the Lights of Broadway shine! 


[6] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


To One at Worship 

(To L. p. L.) 

I saw her in the church. ’Twas Easter Day 
And down the dim old aisle there crept the feet 
Of worshippers long dead and gone to meet 
Their Nazarene beyond the Milky Way. 

My false gods tottered when she knelt to pray, 
My logic crumbled, dust, on Reason’s street, 
And in the presence of her spirit sweet 
My spirit sought to struggle through the clay. 

One silvery bird song trembled in the air 
Outside the dim cathedral, and to me 
The fancy came that it was singing there 
To one it loved in vain, one fair as she. 

And then I left the edifice of prayer 
To walk the thorny road of Cannot-Be. 


[7] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


“Getting By” 

This world is full of laddies 
Who are acting as Fate’s caddies 

In the game that’s known as “Living Out the String.” 
Though they seldom need a warning 
And report for work each morning 

To their notions of it all they fondly cling. 

Dreaming of a life in clover, 

Wishing that the day were over, 

For a semblance of endeavor they will try. 

And if you should ask them kindly 
How it goes, they’d answer blindly 

That it kept them good and busy “getting by!” 

“Getting by!” Two words of meaning 
Through this world of ours careening 

On the tongue of every shirker in the land! 

“Getting by!” And while they’re skidding, 

Thinking of the boss they’re kidding 

Who will fire them soon or later, out of hand! 

Life is far too full of action 
For this large and listless faction 

And the years are taking payments as they fly. 


[8] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


In Life’s discard ever growing, 

Making but a sorry showing, 

Lie the lads whose stock in trade is “getting by!” 


[9] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Sonnet on Beauty 

Put not your trust in Beauty. It was made 
To please the eye and soothe the nervous brain, 
To cause forgetfulness in hours of pain 
And work its magic when the soul is flayed. 
Beauty can smile in Sorrow’s sombre shade 
But when you need it, it will not sustain 
And when you seek its help you seek in vain — 
And when you die its charms are still displayed. 

Beauty is all men’s mistress and her wiles 
Can comfort one and make another moan. 

She smiles, but only as a siren smiles — 

A fleeting ripple o’er a mask of stone. 

The rose was blushing red when Juliet sighed, 
The sky was smiling blue when Caesar died! 


[10] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Talking Shop 

“This writing verse for fun or purse at times seems almost 

play,” 

Said I to Jimmie Montague, while talking shop one day. 
“So many different stanzas and so many meters, too, 
Enable us with little fuss to push a poem through. 


“This one, 

So light, 
Is fun 

To write. 


“And this one, too, 

A little longer, 

For jokes will do 

Or themes much stronger.” 

“I use this stanza often,” 

Old Jimmie said to me, 

“To make the heartstrings soften 
With some fond memory. 

“And when I’m on a deeper theme 
And tell about some mystic dream 
I’m apt to tackle, like as not, 

This meter loved by Walter Scott.” 


[ 11 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


“The old boys liked this meter,” I replied, 

“And Goldsmith used it ably when he sighed 
About the land, to hastening ills a prey, 

Where wealth accumulates and men decay!” 

“That’s what he did,” said Jimmie. “If he were 
living here, 

He’d write a line like that today about our nation 
dear. 

Not that our men are going back, because that isn’t 
so, 

But Uncle Sam is certainly accumulating dough!” 

“This form,” I remarked, “is effective 
While wailing of vanished affairs 
Though the reader must get a detective 
To strike at the root of our cares.” 

“Yes” replied Jimmie, “and this stanza, too, 

Goes well with a heart-breaking theme 
But of late I have had so much scribbling to do 
That I can’t find a minute to dream.” 

“Then try blank verse, five hoofbeats to the line,” 
Was my suggestion. “It is never hard 
And I suspect, if Shakespeare had not been 
The busy owner of a theater, 

He might have polished off some corking jingles!” 

[ 12 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


“Well,” said Jimmie, “I’ll have to be going 
Clear out to Rochelle, and it’s snowing! 

Still, I must go, storm or no storm. 

Ten blocks to walk in a snow storm! 

“Maybe I’ll borrow 

A raincoat up town. 

See you tomorrow 

In case I come down. 

“Goodbye 
Must fly!” 

*‘This writing verse for fun or purse at times seems almost 
play” 

Said I to Jimmie Montague while talking shop one day. 
“So many different stanzas and so many meters, too, 
Enable us with little fuss to push a poem through!” 


[ 13 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The Milestones 

The milestones on the road of Life 
Are not the battles fought and won, 
Are not the monuments of strife, 

The foe repulsed, the grand deed done, 
For every triumph, great or small, 

Is bordered black with some regret, 
The memory of a foeman’s fall, 

A brave man’s sun forever set. 

Why glory in a battle won 

When he who lost must lie supine ? 
What pleasure in the swift race run 
When thousands never cross the line? 
The strong, the swift, so richly blest 
That winning seems a baby’s sport — 
Their laurel is a sorry jest. 

They do not love the flattering court. 

They do not heed the songs of praise 
Which swell forever for the king. 
They scorn the laurel and the bays 
The crawling crowd is quick to bring. 

[ 14 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


A kindly word that checked a fall, 

A loving smile for one in tears — 
These are the milestones they recall 
When looking back across the years 


[15] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Memories 

For a tree that was green in the long ago 
And a hundred lights that shone 
I am longing tonight while the blaze sinks low 
And darkness broods on its throne. 

For one soft croon of an old, old tune 
A mother once sang to me 
I would give the things this fat world brings 
In the Toybag of Destiny! 

I would give the wiles and the witching smiles 
That gladden’d my quickening heart 
In the wine-blurred days when we trod the ways 
That meet and tangle and part. 

I would give my place in the long, long race 
To one that tumbles and trips 
For the smile that lies in a mother’s eyes 
And the kiss of a mother’s lips! 

Oh, the joys are vain in the Palace of Gain 
And the Jester, Death, makes sport. 

Though the road be long till we pass the throng, 
The rest of the way is short. 

[16] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


And so, as I dream by the grate’s last gleam 
And gaze at the ashes gray, 

I would trade the things this fat world brings 
For the trinkets of Yesterday! 


[ 17 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The Poet's Gold 

He knows full well the world of men 
Take little heed of what he sings 
For few, so few, will see the true 

While countless thousands bow to kings! 
He knows full well his dearest song 
Can bring but little worldly pay, 

But he can help to curb the wrong 
And help the weak along Life’s way. 

He knows that after he has gone 
To join the friends he loved so well, 

His voice will journey on and on, 

The ever-living Truth to tell! 

The rich buy homage from the throng 
But to the heights they can not climb. 

The poet sings his little song 

And puts it in the Bank of Time! 


[ 18 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Hard Lines 

It must have been great 
To possess an estate 

In the days medieval and mellow. 

It must have been fine 
To cavort down the line 

And frighten your foes with a bellow! 

It must have been grand 
To own acres of land 

With a ditch called a moat all around it 
To ride a black steed 
When some damsel in need 

Was looking for succor and found it! 

II. 

My blood often bounds 
When I read about hounds 

And falcons and chargers cavorting. 

My muscles grow tense 
And I lose all my sense 

And find myself glaring and snorting. 

But everything brave 
Has gone to the grave! 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The men of today toil like muckers 
And the maids we adore 
Look for succor no more — 

They are seeking the fish we call suckers! 


[ 20 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The Iceman 

Be kind to the Iceman, my neighbor! 

He sweats while he’s keeping you cool. 
Without his intelligent labor 

The butter would melt in a pool. 

Oh, hark to this hot weather ballad! 

Oh, list to this lay of good cheer! 

The lettuce would wilt in the salad 
If the Iceman should fail to appear! 

He sometimes trips up on addition 

Though somehow he never falls down. 
When you went to school for tuition 

He was helping his old man down town. 
Mean persons who question his adding 
The Iceman will never forgive. 

He hopes when they die they’ll go gadding 
In a place where no Iceman could live. 

Forgive him in all your dealing — 

Don’t mind the hard things he might say. 
Your heart would grow cold and unfeeling 
If you sat on an icecake all day! 


[ 21 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Perhaps, if you’ve not been a nice man, 
You’ll wind up in a sulphurous pool 
And you’ll long for a sight of the iceman 
And the home that he used to keep cool! 


[ 22 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Cinders 

It is night and it is raining; 

All alone I bow my head 
With my memory complaining 
O’er a dream forever dead. 

Each brown leaf that goes a-flying, 
Torn forever from its bower, 

Haunts me with its hopeless dying 
Like the ghost of some glad hour. 

Now, away from mirth that hinders 
Every thought suggesting tears, 

I am gazing at the cinders 
Of a dozen burnt out years. 

For we broke from every tether 
In the cities where we strayed 
And the wine we drank together 
Broke each rosy pledge it made . 

Love extravagant and burning 
Was our one and only creed. 

Down the lane that knows no turning 
We were whirled at madman speed. 


[ 23 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Charred reminders of dead pleasure 
In the Lotus Days of old, 

Each poor cinder is a treasure 

That I would not trade for gold! 


[ 24 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Song o' the City 

New York is never still, but now 
It murmurs softly to the skies 
Like some pale wanton, bold of brow, 
Whose painted lips are full of lies. 

The murmur grows into a croon, 

The croon into a song that rings 
With mocking words and ghastly tune — 
And this is what the city sings: 

“I welcome all within my gate. 

I beckon that all men may see. 

I mock the rich and taunt the great — 

Their greatness is a jest to me! 

I starve the hungry little child 
And jeer the losers in the mart. 

I find a jade that never smiled 

And help her break some good man’s heart 

“I teach the innocent to lie 

And lie again to thwart the truth. 

I watch the pulse of Virtue die. 

I shatter all the dreams of Youth!” 


[25] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Then dawn comes stealing on its way 
And, with the rumble and the roar 
That usher in the cares of day, 

The Citys voice is heard no more. 


[ 26 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Captain Scott 

The world was waiting to welcome him 
Back from the floes 
And the grim plateaus 
And the regions dreary and dark and dim. 
Brave as Jason, who knew no peace 
Until he had found the Golden Fleece, 

He fought his way with his hero heart, 

With never a guide and never a chart, 

Till he fell, exhausted, across the Goal. 

Thus did the Captain find the Pole. 

The Captain is gone and the Pole is here 
But the Pole is part of a petty sphere. 
Where the hero found it the Pole must stay 
While the Captain has journeyed far away. 
For the soul of a Man can live — and must — 
When a planet has crumbled away to dust! 


[ 27 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Elks' Toast (Eleven O’clock) 

Now the clock has struck Eleven 
In this hall of mirth and cheer 
And a silence falls from heaven 
On the throng assembled here. 

Slowly die the fire’s last embers 
And the night grows still, serene, 
While we toast the Absent Members 
That have passed Beyond the Screen. 

II. 

We behold, with eyes grown older — 
Eyes that have a magic scope — 

Life’s abandoned fires that smolder 
On the distant Trail of Hope. 

And when Memory is beguiling 
And the lights are soft and low, 

We can see these brothers smiling 
As they smiled long years ago. 

III. 

Friends of old! Departed brothers! 
Raise your spirit hands on high, 

[ 28 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Toasting vernal Love eternal 
That shall never, never die! 
Something like to angels singing 
Makes this magic hour divine 
While the heavens above are ringing 
With the strains of Auld Lang Syne! 


[ 29 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The Voyagers 

(The Titanic) 

They listened to strains of music 

In rooms that were planned for kings 
Beautiful notes from beautiful throats, 
Sung as a songbird sings. 

They revelled in baths of marble 
Like the baths of ancient Rome. 
’Twas a tragic trip on a magic ship — 
The ship that never came home! 

Music and baths and splendor — 

But where are the noble men 
Saying Goodbyes with glistening eyes 
That never shall glisten again? 

They called it a floating palace; 

They found it a funeral urn, 
Crowded by Fate with hero freight — 
The ship that can never return! 


[ 30 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The Pumpernickel Princes 

You may talk about your quinces 
But the Pumpernickel Princes 
Are the latest and the greatest of this planet’s crop of 
shines! 

Freddie is his papa’s pet, 

Tall and thick, already yet, 

And he prattles of his battles far behind the battle lines. 

Eitel is a harmless guy, 

August fell down last July, 

And the latter still grows fatter underneath his army cap. 
When his losses grow too vital 
August blames it all on Eitel 

And each brother tells the other he’s a dumkopf and a yap! 

Adelbert is addle-pated 
But was never underrated 

For you couldn’t underrate him and leave anything at all! 
Oscar’s hiding in some grim burg 
Drinking wine and eating limburg. 

Joachim, poor little feller, from his cellar dare not crawl. 

[ 31 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


All alive and feeling fine! 

There you have a royal line! 

Can you beat it? I repeat it. Can you beat it for a joke? 
When the old and well known steeple 
Falls down on the German people 
Will the cattle turn from battle, throwing off Der Kaiser’s 
yoke? 

August, Eitel, Fathead Freddie, 

Young Adelbert, yet, already, 

Every one a most terrific, scientific son of Thor! 

Joachim, hussar-in-hiding! 

Oscar, out of danger gliding! 

Oh, the Pumpernickel Princes! Oh, the dashing dogs of 
war! 


[ 32 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The Harbor of Dreams 

Oh, few were the days of our love, dear, 

And soon came the words of farewell, 

While out of the heavens above, dear, 

The Star of our Happiness fell. 

The roses have died in Love’s arbor 
But their fragrance seems never to die 
And often we sail to a harbor — 

The Harbor of Dreams, you and I. 

Refrain : 

Safe in the Harbor of Dreams, dear heart, 
There may we love as of yore! 

There may the bliss of a long vanish’d kiss 
Bring the old rapture once more! 

Far o’er Life’s sea you have drifted from me 
But the Lighthouse of Hope bravely gleams 
And out of the blast we shall anchor at last, 
Safe in the Harbor of Dreams! 

II. 

I speak your dear name in my sleeping 
For Night is more sweet than the dawn, 

[ 33 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


And into my slumber comes creeping 
The ghost of a summer long gone; 

A summer of roses and heather, 

Like another lost summer it seems 
While out in the moonlight together 
We float in the Harbor of Dreams! 

Refrain : 

Safe in the Harbor of Dreams, dear heart, etc. 


By courtesy of Boosey & Company, New York. 

[ 34 ] 



OUT OF THE CURRENT 


A Sunset Song 

The brooding splendor of the West 
Is fairer than the fairest dawn 
For sunset brings the Keys of Rest 
And bids old Jailer Care begone! 

The crimson richness of the sky 
That comes to bless a day’s devotion 
Red-robes the shadows marshalled nigh. 
Our senses swim in Beauty’s Ocean 

II. 

Another rosy dawn will call 

And burning noon once more will shine 
But now the shades hold festival 

And Twilight brings her purple wine. 
May you, my love, and I, your own, 
Together face the waiting West, 

Nor take one faltering step alone 

When Sunset brings the Keys of Rest! 


By courtesy of Boosey & Company, London and New York. 

[ 35 ] 



OUT OF THE CURRENT 


To Ella Wheeler Wilcox 

High Priestess of Love, whither now are you drifting? 

Your sweet, peaceful life found a sweet, peaceful close. 
Where now is your song with its message uplifting ? 

What dreams did you dream when your spirit arose ? 
That wonderful spirit! They love and revere it 
Who drank at its fountains of music and peace, 

And oh, the sped song! Shall the ages not hear it 
As ages have hearken’d to Sappho of Greece? 

II. 

Your life was a poem and such was your passing. 

Your eyes saw no scars in Eternity’s scheme. 

Hate, envy, ambition, pomp, power, position — 

These things had no part in your beautiful dream. 

The brass horn of glory blared not your sweet story, 

No herald announc’d it, no bugle call rang, 

Yet all through your singing a message went ringing, 
Eternal and pure as the love that you sang! 

III. 

Yes, soft was your music and simple your meter, 

But who of the millions that noted your song 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Could ever assert that his life was not sweeter 
Because of the story you told to the throng ? 

Now your spirit is part of the heavens it courted 
And brighter each star in the Universe gleams. 
Wherever your journey in Time’s endless tourney, 

God bless you and keep you, sweet dreamer of dreams! 


[ 37 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Kitchener 

Son of Mars and Neptune’s prey, 
Man of blood and steel! 

England sits in sackcloth gray 
And her ship of state today 
Rides without a keel! 

Staring at the Loom of Fate 
England sits disconsolate. 

You were strong and you were clean, 
Fit to live and die. 

True to King and true to Queen, 
True to self — and now, serene, 
’Neath the waves you lie. 

Staring at the Loom of Fate 
England sits disconsolate. 


[ 38 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The Heart of Ireland 

The Heart of Ireland! Hear it throb 
Above the cannon’s muffled roar, 

Above the plundered mother’s sob, 

Above the moan of him she bore! 

The freeman’s heart knows well the thrill 
Of that brave heart across the sea — 

The heart that England can not kill 
With all her swords and musketry! 

The Heart of Ireland! God of Love, 

How long, how long shall earthly might 
Build thrones to mock Thy Throne above 
And seek to exercise Thy Right ? 

How many more relentless years 

Must come and go with measured tread 
Ere Freedom wipes away the tears 
That fall for Erin’s martyred dead ? 

The Heart of Ireland! Every beat 
Is heard across the rolling sea. 

When shall it reach the Judgment Seat 
Where monarchs have no pedigree? 


[ 39 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Slaves? They are nobles in Thy Sight! 

Nobles? They are but pawns of Thine! 
When shall we see, beyond the Night, 

The holy dawn of Freedom shine? 


[ 40 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The Wedding Ring 

“How much for this ring?” the old man said 
With a pitiful droop of his silvery head. 

“’Tis the wedding ring I gave my wife 
When we were drinking the wine of life. 

It’s the last small trinket of all our lot. 

What is it worth? It’s all Eve got!” 

The kindly pawnbroker eyed the band 
And placed a V in the old man’s hand. 

Out in the cold the old man went, 

Weak and haggard and wan and bent. 

Fondling the five, he was heard to say 
“That’s the tenth brass ring I have hocked today!” 


[ 41 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Ballade of Easter 

To the same old world with its light and shade, 

The same old world with its joy and woe, 

The Easter sun is again displayed 
And the lilies are waving to and fro 
As they waved on a Sabbath long ago 
When the Guardian Rock was rolled away. 

Let us be glad, for the sunbeam’s glow 
Is the Smile of Christ on the world today! 

Where is the Cross the Romans made ? 

Gone, with all of the Roman show! 

Where is the Crown of Thorns that weighed 
The suffering head of the The Saviour low? 
Where is the blood they made to flow ? 

Buried ’neath centuries of decay! 

Let us be glad, for the sunbeam’s glow 
Is the Smile of Christ on the world today! 

Over on Calvary’s dismal grade 
Where the phantoms of Night their shadows throw 
Pilate is hiding, sore afraid, 

For two thieves gibber “You willed it so!” 


[ 42 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


And the Magdalen’s shadow seems to grow 
But all alone in their gloom are they 

For the morning comes, and the sunbeam’s glow 
Is the Smile of Christ on the world today! 

Envoy 

Prince of Light! ’Tis to Thee men owe 
What they seek with blossom and song to pay. 
Let us be glad, for the sunbeam’s glow 
Is the Smile of Christ on the world today! 


[ 43 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The One Little Woman 

Yes, this one has startled the world with her song 
And that one has shone on the stage. 

Their art and their beauty have swept them along 
And bright are their names on Life’s page. 

How often, my brother, you gaze at a face, 

When over the footlights it flares, 

And fail to remember the beauty and grace 
Of the one little woman that cares! 

The one little woman who thinks of your joy 
As something more precious than life! 

The one that adores you and calls you her boy — 
That helps you through sunshine and strife. 

This life is a battleground covered with hills — 
Adversity jostles and shoves you. 

However you fight you are always a knight 
To the one little woman that loves you. 

Don’t sneer at the fellow that journeys along 
With never a thought of high speed! 

He’s sorry for YOU when he sees you go wrong, 
Forgetting your code and your creed! 

[ 44 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Young blood riots high and a languorous eye 
May one day invite you to roam, 

But if you’re Full Size you’ll remember the eyes 
Of the one little woman at homel 


[ 45 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The Spread of the Antlers 

The Spread of the Antlers! A wonderful span, 

It links us together from East coast to West 

For an Elk is an Elk and a man is a man 

And the best will forever join hands with the best! 

In the name of Fidelity, wonderful word, 

The Elk toast we drink and the Purple we wear. 

No city too large to be proud of our herd — 

No hamlet so small that an Elk is not there! 

H. 

The Spread of the Antlers! It shelters the home 

Where the near ones and dear ones our coming await, 

All wide and true blue as the heavens’ blue dome, 
Observing as Love and unswerving as Fate! 

Oh, friendship is precious and comradeship fine 
And brotherhood teaches the lessons it sees 

And charity’s rare and forgiveness divine — 

But the Spread of the Antlers is greater than these! 

III. 

For the Spread of the Antlers halts not at the grave 
But hovers unceasingly over the mound 


[ 46 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Where the slim weeping willows in Summertime wave 
And the blossoms of memory hallow the ground. 
The Spread of the Antlers! It softens the strife 

From the first flush of youth to the last feeble breath, 
Protecting the faithful forever in Life. 

And lifting the gloom from the Portal of Death! 


[ 47 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The New Stenographer 

(The following verses originally appeared in The 
Milwaukee Sentinel, one of the author’s first con¬ 
tributions to that newspaper in 1903.) 

I have a new stenographer. She came to work today. 

She told me that she wrote the Graham System. 

Two hundred words a minute seemed to her, she said, 
like play, 

And word for word at that — she never missed ’em. 

I gave her some dictation — a letter to a man — 

And this, as I remember it, was how the letter ran: 

“Dear sir: I have your favor, and in reply would state 
That I accept the offer in yours of recent date. 

I wish to say, however, that under no condition 
Can I afford to think of your free lance proposition. 

I shall begin tomorrow to turn the matter out. 

The copy should be ready by August 10th, about. 
Material of this nature should not be rushed unduly. 
Thanking you for the favor, I am yours very truly.” 

She took it down in shorthand with apparent ease and 
grace — 

She didn’t call me back all in a flurry. 

[ 48 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Thought I, “At last I have a girl worth keeping ’round 
the place!” 

Then said “Now write it out. You needn’t hurry.” 
The Remington she tackled. Now and then she struck 
a key. 

And after thirty minutes this is what she handed me: 

“Dear sir, I have the feever and in a pile i sit 
And I except the favor as you have reasoned it. 

I wish to see, however, that under any condition 
Can i for to think of a free lunch preposition. 

I shall be in tomorrow to turn your mother out, 

The cap will be red and will cost Ten, about. 

Material of this nation should not rust. N. Dooley. 
Thinking you have the feever, I am yours very truly!” 


[ 49 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Columbia's Prayer 

Columbia kneels to Thee alone — 

To Thee for Whom all blessings are— 
And sends this message to The Throne 
That shines beyond the Evening Star. 
Columbia’s eyes are wet with tears 
Shed for the brave that do and die 
And, heavy with her hopes and fears, 

She makes this prayer to Thee on high: 

“Let not the gold, the gleaming gold, 

That vessels bring from o’er the sea 
Like tribute brought to kings of old, 

Turn these poor eyes from sight of Thee! 
Let not our little vision, Lord, 

Be dazzled by the gleam of Gain 
While Europe shrinks before the sword 
And Europe’s mothers weep in vain! 

“Let not our eyes turn from the sky 

To root for herbs like fattening swine 
While young men moan and old men die 
On many a distant battle line. 


[50] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Let not the roar escape our ears — 

Let not the flame elude our eyes 
While Christian womanhood in tears 
Calls to her manhood as it dies! 

“Give us to see the Greater Scheme 
Beyond the Present’s crimson toll 
As from the memories of a dream 
We build a lesson for the soul!” 

* * 

Columbia kneels to Thee alone, 

To Thee for Whom all blessings are 
And sends this message to The Throne 
That shines beyond the Evening Star. 


[51] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Unrest 

There is no rest save sleep and death 
For those whom Destiny is driving. 

Until the last and feeblest breath 
Some part of every man is striving. 

The tireless muscles of the strong, 

The mental workings of the clever 

Unite, while we are swept along, 

In one grand current of Endeavor. 

II. 

The idle day and idle dream 
Are for the dotard and the fool. 

The salmon flashes up the stream — 

The coarse carp fattens in the pool. 

Striving we live, and, striving, shun 

The dull content that would enslave us 

And glory, ere the day is done, 

In that unrest The Master gave us! 


[ 52 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


To the Toilers 

In the name of your fathers at Lexington banded 

When Freedom was groping and seeking the Light — 
Your fathers who battled clear brained and clean 
handed — 

Stand shoulder to shoulder and fight the good fight! 
Regardless of Self and regardless of Scheming, 
Unmindful of Gain as of Treason’s foul breath, 

Look up at the stars where Old Glory is gleaming 
And toil till the Tyrant is trampled to death! 

When we who are here shall have gone to our slumber 
And, dreamless, repose in Eternity’s Tent, 

Shall History’s pages in far away ages 

Record that your aid to a despot was lent? 

Shall its annals set forth that your forges were ashes 
When swords needed temper as never before? 

Would you leave to your children the slave driver’s lashes 
And beckon the Hun to Columbia’s shore ? 

No! No! For the Toiler no creed so unmanly! 

No! No! For the Toiler no record of shame! 

The clear eye of Labor gleams bright as the saber 
And leaps at the whisper of Liberty’s name! 


[ 53 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


For Washington, floating in spirit above you, 

For Lincoln of old and for Wilson today, 

For the children you cherish, the women that love you, 
Give your all to the Flag till the storm rolls away! 

New York, June io, 1918. 


[ 54 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The Marines on the Marne 

Flung into the cauldron of conflict colossal 

They sprang to the front with abandon sublime, 

These clean hearted freemen, these lean soldier-seamen, 
These doers of deeds to be sung for all time! 
Disdaining the odds they were blithely engaging, 
Regarding as nothing the work to be done, 

Like billows flung high when the tempest is raging, 

On swept the Marines through the hordes of the Hun! 

Two gats to a man, each barking and biting, 

Each chin carried low, all eyes straight ahead, 

Oh, here was Existence! Oh, here was real fighting! 

Oh, this was the Dance of the Quick and the Dead! 
On, onward they press through the pitiless conflict, 

O’er heaps of the dying, through poisonous screens, 

Like fiends of Perdition, stern slaughter their mission, 
On, onward they dash! The Marines! The Marines! 

One drops from his place in the thick of the fighting — 
It’s all in a day and it’s part of the game. 

A word to a comrade, a hint about writing, 

A smile of rare courage, a low-whispered name. 


[55] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


He sees the Long Trail and he faces it bravely 

For long has he looked on strange faces and scenes, 
And oh, to be dying where foemen are flying! 

Yes, this was his dream when he joined the Marines! 


[ 56 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Four Walls 

Within four walls at the midnight hour, 
Fragrant as the sweetest flower, 

Fair as an angel’s brow must be, 

My slender dream love comes to me. 

The four walls glow with golden light 
That banishes the sullen night 
And low I bow before the throne 
Of her who might have been my own. 

Dreams! Dreams! And I awake to press 
And to caress pale Nothingness. 

But oh, the rapture I have known 

While kneeling near my dream love’s throne! 

Dear Master of the puppet show 
Forever playing here below, 

Somewhere beyond the Present’s blur 

Build me four walls — and heaven — and her! 


[57] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Soldier Afar 

Soldier afar, ’neath the banner you cherish, 

Waiting for dawn while the shadows hang low, 
Brothers may falter and others may perish, 
Comrades about you may welter in woe. 

Still in your heart leaps the blood of the Freeman, 
Still in your brain glows the picture of Home, 
Still in your dreaming two dear eyes are beaming, 
Still in your slumber will Memory roam. 

Soldier afar, you will see the bright faces 
Lit with the love of the happier days. 

Out of the night you will pass to fair places 
Loved in the old and the blossom-strewn Mays. 
Springing away from the shambles around you, 

Fast will your fancy swing back to the past, 
Dwelling again where Youth’s happiness found you, 
Viewing a vision too lovely to last. 

Soldier afar, there is one who is longing, 

One who is sending dream kisses to you 
Out of a garden with memories thronging, 

Out of a riot of roses and dew. 


[ 58 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Knight of her girlhood and prince of her choosing, 
Fight the good fight where the Death Demons are 
With Yankee endeavor, on! onward forever! 

For God and your lady, brave soldier afar! 

New York City, July 3, 1918. 


[59] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Music 

Eternal magic! Through the halls of space 
Thy soul hath moved on wings of Grief and Joy, 
And when the song of Helen rose in Troy 
Or when the thrush, in some sequestered place, 
Flung its defiant mirth in Nature’s face 
Men felt the thrill all Time can not destroy — 
The one great sweetness that can never cloy 
Nor perish from the hearts our hearts embrace! 

Oh, is there not some Master Harmony 
To which the suns and planets move in time? 
Else why the vaguely thrilling ecstasy 
That wafts the soul to altitudes sublime ? 

Down the dim pageant of the endless years 
Reverberates the music of the spheres. 


[ 60 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The Convict 

The dead days are his playthings. One by one 
He greets them, clings to them and lets them go 
For other days wait in a ghastly row, 

Cooled by no breeze, illumined by no sun, 

Drab days to hate, followed by nights to shun. 

He tries to think. It was not always so — 

It was not always dark as Hell below! 

In youth’s bright days he saw a river run. 

There is no hope. The years must come and go 
Without one glimmer of the world for him. 

The righteous do not care. They do not know 
The foolish tears that make his poor eyes dim. 
They might find cause for pity if they would, 
But why, pray, pity him ? He is not good! 


[ 61 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


In the Forest 

Two leaves clung to a maple twig. 

One was little, the other was big. 

The little leaf hated and feared the world 
And into a dusty scroll it curled. 

“I’m safe up here,” it said with a frown, 

“No breeze in the forest can blow me down!” 

But it flew in a gale from its slender shelf. 

The name of the little leaf was Self. 

II. 

The big leaf lived in riotous joy 

And played with the winds like a romping boy, 

And in return for each fond caress 

The zephyrs gave it a crimson dress — 

A crimson dress with borders of gold 
Like the robes that were worn by kings of old, 
And it smiled on the world from its throne above — 
The name of the crimson leaf was Love! 


[ 62 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Work and Wait 

Work and wait! The thrill of winning 
And the victor’s placid smile 
Never come at the beginning 
Of a conflict worth your while. 

Long the road that leads to freedom, 
High the hill where Truth is throned, 
While the seeker wanders, weaker, 
Disillusioned and disowned! 

II. 

Work and wait. Beyond the thunder 
Waits another, clearer day, 

When the ties now torn asunder 
Shall resume their cherished sway. 
Though the sacrifice be heavy, 

Though the road be strewn with slain, 
On some Morrow free of sorrow 
Men will find the greater gain! 

III. 

Work and wait. It is existence. 

One by one the ages teach 


[63] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


That in yonder hazy distance 

Gleams the summit men would reach. 
Gentle hope leads on, reviving 
Dreary spirit, weary frame. 

Upward climbing, onward striving, 
Work and wait. It is The Game. 


[64] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Ballade of Summer 

Blue is the sky, like a baby’s eye 
When it looks away to the sunset’s glow. 
Clouds of silver go dreamily by 
Into the country no men know. 

Dreamy, too, seems the river’s flow 
To the West where the voice of Twilight calls. 
Bury ’neath blossoms your Winter woe. 
Summer is coming to Chippewa Falls. 

Green are the hills that salute the sky 
After their sleep ’neath Winter’s snow. 
Faithful sentinels towering high, 

Their ancient gaze on the town they throw. 
Here they dreamed in the long ago 
And here they will dream o’er statelier halls. 

A robin sings in the lane below. 

Summer is coming to Chippewa Falls. 

Over the river the swallows fly, 

Carrying memories to and fro 

Of an old, old dream that was born to die 

And to live again where Love’s roses blow. 


[65] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Take the glitter, the pomp, the show 
That beat like waves o’er the City’s walls 
And give me meadows where blossoms blow. 
Summer is coming to Chippewa Falls. 

Empress Nature! Again bestow 
Thy soft, green grace on thy weary thralls! 
Sweet as a breath from the lilac row, 
Summer is coming to Chippewa Falls! 


[66] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Ballade of Irvine Park 

Russet and red and green and gold 
Hold their convention at Beauty’s call. 

Soon to blend with the forest mold, 

Glorious leaves to the greensward fall. 

You that dream of a Druid’s hall 
Or an island reached in a fairy barque, 

Come to the revel, one and all! 

It’s Indian Summer in Irvine Park. 

Where Chippewa Falls, with its legends bold, 
Smiles on the years that Westward crawl, 
Lovely scenes to the eye unfold, 

Holding the vision a willing thrall. 

And Twilight, pensive in purple pall, 
Wanders along where the glen grows dark. 
Come to the revel, one and all! 

It’s Indian Summer in Irvine Park. 

Dear as a love tale often told 
Are the scenes of Childhood on Memory’s wall 
And the buried treasure the dead years hold 
Comes at the beck of great and small. 


[67] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


From the silver birch to the pine trees tall 
Leap the echoes flung by the last brave lark. 
Come to the revel, one and all! 

It’s Indian Summer in Irvine Park. 

Princess Nature! Thy flaming shawl 
Gowns with glory the branches stark. 

Come to the revel, one and all! 

It’s Indian Summer in Irvine Park. 


[68] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Ballade of Baseball 

Always I long for the day 
When I can sit in the sun, 

Watching each lightning-like play 
After the game has begun. 

This is the acme of fun — 

Other amusements seem flat. 

Ho for the corking home run! 

Ho for the crack of the bat! 

Rooters grow never blase 
Watching the game lost or won. 

Players may age and grow gray, 

Life may be rosy or dun. 

Other good games we may shun 

But baseball! What sane man shuns that ? 

Ho for the corking home run! 

Ho for the crack of the bat! 

Longing for Fandom’s array, 

Much as a hawk or a Hun 
Waits to swoop down on the prey, 

Daily I’m praying (no pun). 


[69] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


All of my work is undone, 
Chaos resides ’neath my hat. 
Ho for the corking home run! 
Ho for the crack of the bat! 

Giants! Go after the bun! 
Pin ’em all down to the mat! 
Ho for the corking home run! 
Ho for the crack of the bat! 


[70] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


To the Milwaukee Press Club 

At times when the race seems hardly worth while 
And the prize a bubble too thin to hold, 

I sail in a dream to a distant isle 
Bright with the light of days of old. 

’Tis a pleasant cruise with wonderful views 
And fain would I anchor until the end 
Where I drank life’s joys with the Press Club boys 
In old Milwaukee around the bend. 

II. 

I can hear Mark Forrest saying “I call!” 

In the modest game that we used to play, 

While old Dan Starkey and old Jim Paul 
Stood by the ship till break of day. 

There was a crew! And I’ve seen a few! 

Sons of Speed and Spreaders of Pep! 

Men were men with a vengeance then — 

’Twas before the era of Watch-Your-Step! 

III. 

And that is why, when the night draws nigh 
And the Taper of Memory throws its beam, 


[71] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


I think once more of the old lake shore, 

Lilts and laughter and lights agleam. 

Oft I sat where the Sacred Cat 

Look’d down through the gloom on the throng below, 
When I drank life’s mirth with the salt o’ the earth — 
The Press Club boys of the Long Ago! 


[72] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Bobbie Burns 

When the sky seems lower, somehow, closing down to shut 
me in, 

Closing down to roof a prison full of sorrow and of sin, 

There’s a book I always cherish as a mother loves her own 

And I con its pages over when I have it all alone. 

For the heart that’s full of sunshine or the stricken heart 
that yearns 

What a mine of priceless nuggets are the songs of Bobbie 
Burns! 

Countless lips with grief have straightened, countless lips 
with mirth have curled 

Since the coming and the going of the Plowboy of the 
World. 

Yet the lines he fashioned lightly hold their deep and 
deathless spell 

O’er the mortals that are groping through a world he 
knew so well! 

Just a bonnie boy who warbled of his Scottish hills and 
lakes, 

He was worshipped for his genius, he was loved for his 
mistakes! 


[73] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


How Hypocrisy was riddled by the shots he fired so well! 

How he sang his songs of Heaven while he laughed at 
threats of Hell! 

Little babies could command him but no monarch had 
control 

Of his rugged brain and manhood or his stormy, troubled 
soul! 

Sometimes strays my fickle fancy but forever it returns 

To a little, battered volume — just the songs of Bobbie 
Burns! 


[74] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


A Ballade of New Books 

No matter where the scene is laid, 

No matter where it all takes place, 

No matter if in sylvan glade 
Or through some town the puppets pace, 
No matter whether Pearl or Grace 
Grows weary of her legal boss, 

This always seems to be the case: 

Old Hubby gets the double cross! 

Some Handsome Harry, undismayed 
By thoughts of wallops in the face, 

Blows into town, so well arrayed 
That he is rated as an ace. 

Of conscience showing not one trace 
He vows all love save his is dross! 

A few sweet words, a fond embrace — 

Old Hubby gets the double cross! 

Ah, yes, the couple hit the grade 
And start a dickens of a chase. 

Through chapters of high speed they wade 
And get thrown out at second base. 


[75] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Remorse — dead roses in a vase — 

Some call it “vawze” and some say “vawss” — 
More work for Gossip with her mace. 

Old Hubby gets the double cross! 

O Prince of Piffle! What a race 
To save the Publisher from loss! 

Bamboozled by her girlish grace, 

Old Hubby gets the double cross! 


[76] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The Goldfish 

“True culture is not for the masses,” 

Said Mrs. De Puyster De Vayne. 

“One has to look up to the classes 
To find the intelligent brain. 

You grasp what I mean — if one travels 
One gets more intense and profound —” 

And the goldfish kept swimming around and around 
And the goldfish kept swimming around. 

“One sees so much work in the city 
With all of its vulgar display. 

At times I can almost feel pity 
For persons that toil by the day! 

Those persons in uniforms glaring — 

Those guards in the tubes underground!” 

And the goldfish kept swimming around and around 
And the goldfish kept swimming around. 

“I feel that my culture compels me 
To live and to move like a queen. 

A vague inner consciousness tells me — 

But doubtless you grasp what I mean. 


[77] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


We people of fine birth and breeding 

Are the sort that grow great and renowned —” 

And the goldfish stopped swimming around and around 
And the goldfish stopped swimming around! 


[78] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Concerning Knighthood 

The rare old days, the fair old days 
When knighthood was in flower! 

They had no moving picture plays, 

No sixty miles an hour. 

They had no bright electric light, 

No cool electric fans, 

No motor cars, no baseball stars, 

No flats, no moving vans. 

The hale old days, the stale old days 
When knighthood ruled the roost! 

With one long fight from morn till night, 
All knocks and not one boost! 

Each mortal crawled or slept or sprawled 
Lazier than a lizard, 

Save when some knight by duty called 
Would pierce a brother’s gizzard! 

The breezy days, the wheezy days 
When knighthood was the caper! 

No water power, no morning shower, 

No faithful daily paper! 

[79] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Give me the Present’s cheery maze 
In which to live my hour 
And you can have the brave old days 
When knighthood was in flower! 


[ 80 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


You 

The sky may be all blue and gold 
When you walk forth today. 

Like some sweet story often told 
Will rise the robin’s lay. 

The day may bring some wondrous thing 
To one you never knew. 

Some heart grown gay will bless this day — 
What will it bring to you ? 

Some gentle wile, some cheery smile 
May bless a soul in pain 

And help a climber who has slipped 
To scale the heights again. 

No day is yours except Today 
With its roses or its rue. 

Before its sun has slipped away 
What will it mean to you ? 

Some human heart will swell with love, 
Some heart with pity beat, 

Some heart will take, for old time’s sake, 

A wanderer from the street. 


[81] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Some heart today will take its flight 
To heights it never knew. 

Each has the chart of his own heart. 
Where will your heart take you ? 


[ 82 ] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The English Language 

A weather vane is never vain 
And has no vein of humor. 

A window pane is free from pain, 

No roomer free from rumor. 

A strait is very seldom straight, 

A knight is seldom dark; 

You see no beer beside a bier, 

No bark upon a barque. 

Shad roe could never row a boat — 

A Dane might deign to row one. 

A coat was never known to quote — 

A bough will bow to no one! 

A boy once threw right through a door 
A cent they sent him seeking 

And while they talked the matter o’er 
He showed his pique by peeking. 

A ruler reigns in rain or shine 
With rein held tight or loose. 

One may be nine yet not benign — 

A mite might still reduce. 

[83] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


The monkey climbs in tropic climes 
And leaps both high and low, 

And I have made these monkey rhymes 
Because I knead the dough. 


[84] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Sunset in Manhattan 

Beyond the even Palisades 
The sun is slipping down 

And in a flood all red as blood 
It bathes the murmuring town. 

O’er spire and vane and crimson pane 
It throws a flaming light. 

It bids farewell to Loss and Gain — 

It bids the streets Goodnight. 

The tide-tossed Hudson creeps along 
Beneath the lowering sky 

And silence falls upon the throng 
That scurry swiftly by. 

The good, the bad, the blithe, the sad — 
The beggar and the beau — 

They feel the hush above the rush, 

The ebb above the flow. 

On what regrets the red sun sets 
No mortal knows today. 

On what dull pain ’twill rise again 
No prophet here can say. 


[85] 


OUT OF THE CURRENT 


Though for the moment glorified 
The city floats in fire, 

’Twas this same glow which long ago 
Touched all the towers of Tyre! 

# * * 

But this we know: Another glow 
Will mean another morn. 

Another night will take its flight, 
Another day be born. 

There is a rest beyond the West 
For hearts by Sorrow riven 
And to the soul today distressed 
Tomorrow shall be given! 


[ 86 ] 























